Specifications

PDF2DTP® for InDesign® Manual - 49
PDF2DTP for InDesign - Color Conversion Tips
Colors are converted based on their definitions in the PDF. Some colors may not look the same as when the
PDF is displayed by a viewer or the colors may not be exactly equal to the colors used by the original
document. This can occur for several reasons. When a PDF is generated from a document, the application will
use specific PDF Output settings which may cause color conversions, such as CMYK to RGB.
It is important to understand the effects of using an application’s Export PDF settings if you have the intention
of ever wanting to convert the PDF in the future back to the same quality as the original document. Just as
colors can be altered, images can be downsized to a lower resolution making it impossible to convert the
preview to match the original image quality. If fonts are embedded then this too can become a huge issue if
the original fonts cannot be located and activated. Therefore, it is often a good idea to learn how to Export a
PDF not only for the desired destination, such as a printing device, computer screen or to display in a web
browser, but also to create a high quality PDF that can be used for a much more precise conversion back to a
document. The additional high quality PDF can serve as a “backup” of your document in case you ever lose it
whereas having only a low quality PDF may result in conversion issues due to the limitations dictated by the
original Export settings.
PDF2DTP for InDesign - Spot Colors
If the PDF defines a color by name (called a “Spot” color) then PDF2DTP will add the color to the
application’s Color palette based on the closest color model supported according to the color’s name. The most
common color models are all supported, including ANPA, DIC, FOCOLTONE, HKS, PANTONEs, TOYO,
TRUMATCH, etc.
It is possible that a Pantone color, for example, defined by the original application that created the PDF may
not have the exact same color values as the application using the PDF2DTP Plug-In even though they use the
same color name.
If a PDF does not contain named colors then this means it was generated by an application which had PDF
Output preferences set to export all colors to RGB or CMYK. Even though the original document may have
used Spot colors, a PDF created using only CMYK will of course not contain any named Spot colors
PDF2DTP for InDesign - Process Colors
The naming convention for Process colors (which have no names defined in the PDF) are dependent upon the
application. Some applications handle Process colors using percentages from 0% to 100% for the RGB or
CMYK channels whereas other applications may use numerical values 0 to 255.